Antoine Griezmann’s silhouette (34 years old) crowned with a bun was distinguished on Wednesday in the Training Field of Cerro del Espino as the first in the row of Atlético players who were waiting to start an exercise of explosive management changes. Centered and silently seemed to want to set an example in which his figure is being questioned. From the black month in which Atlético has played the Champions, the Cup and the League, the French attacker has been indicated for not being differential in matches in which his contribution was expected decisive.
The Griezmann downturn can assume that tonight against Rayo Vallecano (21.30, Dazn) assumes his second consecutive substitution. Since the beginning of the 22-23 season, in which the club in collusion with Simeone decided that he only played half an hour to reduce his repurchase price to Barcelona, he had not been bench meat. This bad streak of what has been the club’s franchise player has coincided with the uncertainty about his future. With another year of contract, in Atlético’s offices they seem safe that Griezmann will continue next season. Simeone has made him see that he has him and in the noble plant they say that Griezmann “is happy in the club”, although they recognize that now, sports, it is going through a “fucked” moment. There are even those who have detected him feeling in the worst state of he was. He has been perceived with a lot of activity to play support passes when he goes down to receive the center of the field, but with little daring in the last meters.
They admit in the leadership that the class of which it is considered the best foreigner in the club’s history did not appear in the Champions League matches against Real Madrid or in the League and the return of the Cup semifinals against Barcelona. However, he is considered an important footballer for the project next year and is praised “his commitment and his leadership before the group.” His stigma has not been able to contribute to the duels in which Atlético played the titles with some decisive action, a goal or an assistance, that would have helped the team to continue in the gap. This has cost some whistles in the Metropolitan, which requires him to be decisive again.
Griezmann’s possible permanence is also partly linked to the fact that he and his wife expect a son for next June. The idea of signing for a team of the American MLS, mainly Los Angeles FC, in the play their friends Lloris and Giroud, can be postponed. Nor does the American League offer attractive salaries, except for a very select handful of soccer players, at the top of all of them Lionel Messi.
With this panorama, Griezmann is before his last challenge in Atlético. Finish the season with the world Cup World Championships and accept, if your status is lower than their competitors for the position, a first or second substitute role. “Luckily, with all the boys who have gone through that situation, we have lived very well. We have spoken, and the team’s needs were first established. Then, we all feel important from the place we have to occupy,” Simeone said yesterday. The technician is the first to expect a reaction from the player he polished to make him a world star. There is also a generalized consensus that Griezmann deserves an end in Atlético better than that of this course.
